airmail

Air mail is the service of sending letters and small parcels by aircraft, intended to shorten delivery times compared with ground transportation. It typically covers lightweight items that can be processed through normal postal channels and transported on scheduled air routes.

The concept emerged in the early 20th century, with the first regular airmail services established in the United States around 1918 and later adopted by many countries. National post offices created dedicated air routes, hubs, and handling facilities, and issued airmail stamps or postmarks to indicate postage prepaid for air conveyance.

Operations involved loading mail bags onto aircraft at airports, routing them through sorting centers, and delivering to destination post offices. International airmail required bilateral agreements on routes, transit times, and rates, with standardization of labeling and, in many cases, separate stamps for air letters.

With the expansion of jet aviation and advances in logistics, air mail became an important component of national postal systems while often remaining more expensive than surface mail. In modern networks, mail is frequently carried as part of general air cargo or passenger service and may serve remote or time-sensitive routes.

Today, the term is largely historical in many countries as a distinct service, supplanted by integrated postal and courier networks, yet airmail concepts continue to influence how mail is prioritized and routed in international logistics.